Constant Companion
by mpg
Summary: Even though I was an immortal, mystory wasn't very interesting. At least it hadn't been, until the madman in a blue box arrived. AU/X-over


**Tales From The Void Contest**

**Constant Companion**

**Pen Name:** mpg

**Rating: **T

**Genre: **Sci-Fi / Adventure

**Word Count: **2,698

**Pairing: **Bella / Edward (Doctor)

**Summary: (255 Character Limit): **Even though I was an immortal, mystory wasn't very interesting. At least it _hadn't_ been, until the madman in a blue box arrived.

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own Twilight or Doctor Who. If I did, David Tennant wouldn't have been allowed to leave and Renesmee would probably not exist. A big thank you must go to my support network and to Albymangroves who just totally rocks. _

~ 0 ~

My name is Bella Swan and I am a vampire.

It would be natural to assume that given my supernatural status, my story was interesting.

The reality is that it wasn't very exciting at all.

It basically involved a crazed strawberry-blonde woman having a mini break-down. My boyfriend, Brian, and I were hiking through the Denali National Park when she came out of nowhere and pushed me out of the way to get to him. I lay in agony, my bones broken and twisted, listening to his screams for help as she dragged him away, muttering something about all men being bastards.

He died almost immediately; I wasn't so lucky.

In almost no time, the woman was back, leaning over me with regret on her face. She asked me if I wanted to live. I blinked in response, which was apparently a 'yes' in her eyes.

I burned for over three days, before waking in a strange house to my attacker watching me silently. I was still worried for my safely, but I needn't have been. Her next move was to calmly tell me what she was—a vampire—and why she'd attacked my boyfriend, despite the fact that she and her sisters usually refrained from feeding on humans.

Tanya explained that for the first time in almost a millennia a man whom she'd desired rejected her advances. How any red-blooded male had resisted her obvious appeal was beyond me—even _I _would have had a hard time turning her down if she'd seduced me. The shock of the rejection had caused her to snap. Apparently, Ben and Jerry's don't have a flavor that appeals to heartbroken immortals.

She and her sisters offered me a home, and after realizing I could never return to my old life I accepted. I was shown how to avoid human contact and how they fed 'vegetarian' style.

I lived with them for a number of years, while I acclimatized to the constant thirst. After a while though, I grew bored. I had yet to spend significant time around humans, but I'd learned to control my immediate instincts. In the end, I just didn't see how I could be happy roaming the wilderness, screwing random men like the sisters did.

Shortly after I came to that realization, I started to spend time thinking about my old life. When Tanya realized what I was feeling, she begrudgingly admitted she'd kept the backpack I was wearing when she'd changed me.

Amongst the items buried in the bag, mostly moldy clothing and long expired food, I found a laminated map of America that Brian and I had marked with the places we planned to visit. I wanted to see the nation's history and he wanted to explore its natural beauty. The map represented our compromises.

Mount McKinley was our first stop.

After learning that she'd kept my past hidden for so long, I couldn't stay with Tanya or her sisters for any longer. I packed up my meager belongings and left.

I had no set destination in mind, only a desire to continue my exploration of American history. I headed south on a whim.

As I travelled, I broke into libraries, schools, office buildings, anywhere that was certain to have internet access. I researched the local history and found hundreds of historical landmarks to add to my list.

Like I said, even though I was an immortal, mystory wasn't very interesting.

At least it _hadn't_ been. Not until the arrival of the blue box.

~ 0 ~

It was just another typical day—well, night—for me. I'd broken into a small logging company, Yorkie Logging, in the tiny town of Forks, Washington. I opened up their browser and began to explore the town's history, one website at a time.

I was engrossed in the stories of the great fire of 1951 when I heard a strange whooshing sound. It was like nothing I'd heard before and I found it impossible to rein in my curiosity.

I looked around quickly, ensuring I hadn't been detected, before shutting down the computer. I followed the noise, but couldn't find the source of the sound.

I walked by a blue wooden box which looked a little odd; it had "Police Public Call Box" printed along the top of each side.

_Why is this here? _

Around the box, a slight tang hung in the air, almost like the taste of static electricity. I circled the strange structure and found the front. I raised my hand to push open the door, but a loud bang from the direction of the admin building drew my attention.

_Someone's in there. _

I turned from the blue box, stumbling almost immediately across another scent. I couldn't immediately place it, but it set my instincts on edge.

_Why do I know that scent?_

As I reached the building, I listened carefully for any further sounds.

_There's no one there. _

I pushed open the door to go back into the building, following the scent. It centered on the desk I'd been using for my research.

I was distracted once again as the strange whooshing sound started up. From the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of blue behind the mill and the odd sound cut off.

When I looked back to where I'd seen the blue box earlier, it was gone. I wondered how it had disappeared so quickly. It was a cumbersome lump of wood.

_How on Earth could anyone move it? And why?_

I felt like I'd missed something important. Something had happened, but I had no idea what it was. I leaned against a desk, replaying what I'd seen to try to figure it out. The monitor on the desk lit up as the mouse shifted, bringing the computer out of sleep mode. It was the computer I'd been using.

_I turned that off. _

I investigated the desk, trying to figure out exactly where the scent was coming from and what caused it. I ducked down and saw a makeshift package stuck to the side of the computer's hard drive underneath the desk.

A read-out on the front was counting down and I realized there were only seconds left. I momentarily considered trying a crash course in bomb disposal, but the venom that fueled my body was highly flammable and I decided not to test the limits of my flame resistance.

I ran from the building and barely made it outside before it exploded, sending flaming debris high into the air around me.

~ 0 ~

I ran through the forest, trying to shake off the thoughts that if I'd delayed a second or two longer, I might have learned that my kind weren't really as permanent as we liked to think. It was an unusual feeling to be facing your own mortality when you were, in fact, no longer mortal.

As I ran, I noticed a box. I stopped in my tracks instantly.

_It's the same box._

There's wasn't a doubt in my mind that it was the box I'd seen at Yorkie Logging. I crept slowly closer to investigate the addition, wondering how it had moved from there to the middle of the forest.

_Why here? Why right where I was running?_

I was almost at the box when a tall man, lean and lithe with a wild mane of red-brown hair burst from the doors, grinning madly. I ducked quickly into bushes and watched him carefully. His face had the look of impish mischief clearly printed on it, which made him look like Pan. I could have sworn I heard a four-beat rhythm pulsing through his chest.

_That's impossible, though. _

His eyes sparkled with delight as he spotted me.

He looked fascinated by something. I realized that something was me.

I was momentarily distracted by his scent; it was the most appealing thing I'd ever encountered, but not in an appetizing way. I hadn't before met anyone whose blood didn't instantly delight my inner monster so I didn't instantly recognize it as the scent that had mingled with the explosives. I was also now certain of the steady four-beat rhythm I could hear thudded in his chest, like a gentle drumbeat keeping the time of the universe.

I wanted to laugh at my fanciful thoughts, and yet I could tell there was something _more_ about the man in front of me.

_I bet he's responsible for the explosion. _

He smiled under my scrutiny, one side of his lips tugging up slightly higher than the other.

"Hello there," he greeted, beckoning me forward.

I took a few steps closer and studied the beautiful man in greater detail. His clothing was odd, more in fitting with early 20th century attire: a dark suit, perfectly tailored, with a waistcoat and a pocket watch.

_That's not something most men wear, unless they're heading to a funeral._

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a leather wallet. He held it open and showed me a piece of paper as if it were his credentials. "Edward Cullen, forestry inspector."

I stood and continued to study the odd specimen carefully.

_He certainly doesn't smell human. _

I raised my eyebrow at him. "That paper is blank."

He chuckled as he tucked the wallet back into his waistcoat. It was then that I studied his clothes a little closer and realized I was wrong. They weren't exactly turn of the century; instead he wore an eclectic collection of garments from a variety of periods. I would never have thought all the items would go together, but somehow he made it work.

"Well, that's one test that you've passed," he said with a smile.

"Test?" I wondered whether the bomb had been another _test_.

"Sorry, I had to know whether you were ready."

"Is that why you tried to blow me up?"

"Um, yeah, sorry about that. I wasn't going to interfere, I swear I wasn't, but they were experimenting with Krynoid off-cuttings. Although, I had a friend once who claimed that blowing buildings up was practically how I said hello." A melancholy expression crept across his face.

"Is any of that supposed to mean something to me?"

He waved me off. "Never mind. I apologize. You weren't supposed to be there, though. I was certain there were no signs of life when I started the countdown, but then, you wouldn't necessarily register as a sign of life really, now would you? I mean, no heartbeat, no heat. It wasn't meant to happen like that." He sighed a little and rubbed the back of his neck lightly. "I've been doing this a long time and I rarely make mistakes like that. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, and then I found out about the Krynoids and it all got a little out of hand."

"How long?"

_There's something almost…_timeless _about him_.

"Huh?"

"You said you've been doing this for a long time, so…how long?"

He looked at me sheepishly. "I've been running for over one thousand years, and I've never looked back."

My eyes widened. "One thousand years."

He shrugged. "Is that really such an infeasible length of time for you? Haven't you got all of eternity stretching out before you?"

I tilted my head to the side in question. "How did you—"

"Know?" he chuckled. "I just do. It's why I picked you. I want you to travel with me, Isabella Marie Swan."

I stepped back when he said my name.

_How does he know my name? _

He grinned impishly. "I saw you at Yorkie Logging. I used the computer after you, and you left your browsing history accessible. You certainly do a lot of historical research. And I've met your kind before. With your reason and intuition, the way you honed in on the TARDIS, I just knew you'd be perfect for me."

I tilted my head in confusion. He was talking about some seriously stalker-like behavior. Not to mention I was having major doubts about his mental stability.

_Sure, he knows my secret, but that doesn't mean he's not a nutter_.

"I've had so many companions over the years. I grew attached to each one of them in one way or another, and yet they all have one thing in common."

"What's that?" I couldn't resist asking.

"They all leave. They all wither and die while I go on. I'm tired of watching the people I love fade away."

"Why don't you just travel alone?"

He chuckled darkly. "I tried that, too. It doesn't end well for anyone when I'm on my own."

"So, what do you want from me, exactly?"

"I want you to travel with me."

"I can't just leave." _Especially not with a nut-job, even though I could absolutely kick your ass. _

"Why not?"

"Well…" I didn't have a reasonable answer for him. It's not like I had anything to tie me to Forks, or anywhere really.

_Maybe travelling with someone else would be a little more interesting._

"I suppose I should introduce myself."

"You already did," I said, confused. "Edward Cullen, right?"

He smiled. "That's just a cover, wasn't sure whether you were who I thought. Now that I know you are who I hoped you might be, I can introduce myself properly. I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor what?"

"Just, the Doctor."

"So, Edward Cullen—a perfectly normal name—is your alias, and your actual name is the Doctor?"

He nodded. "Yep, that's right."

"Okay then." I couldn't help elongating my words, as if I was talking to a child. "If I was to go with you, where exactly would we be going?"

"You could just as easily ask when."

"What?"

"Not what, _when_," he explained, as if to a simpleton.

_How does he not get lost? His multi-tracked thoughts are giving me whiplash. _

"Ask me about my spaceship," he said, his lopsided smile shining madly again.

"Your _spaceship_?"

He leaned against the blue box. "The TARDIS. T.A.R.D.I.S. Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

"So when you say _travel_, you don't mean to the Grand Canyon?"

"We _could_ go there, or we could go to the floating coral city on Splendurosa. Or maybe a trip to the Roman senate?"

I laughed. "You're punking me, right?"

"Bella Swan, I want a companion who will endure the ages with me. I want a friend who can make travelling fun again. And I want _you_ to be that person."

"Why me, though? You said you'd encountered my kind before. Why not them?"

He grimaced. "I was tempted for a moment to travel with someone like you before, but she wasn't exactly _sane_. You know her, in fact. And I'm sorry, so very sorry, for what she did to you."

I raised my eyebrow at him. Tanya's face entered my mind, as well as our discussions about the man who'd rejected her. I asked the question that would confirm it. "Her name wasn't Tanya, was it?"

He breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed a little. I must have taken the news better than he expected.

"Her name was, in fact, Tanya," he said. "She was not really interested in travel, though."

"What do you mean?"

"She just wanted to have _sex_." He whispered the last word, before pulling his mouth into a grimace.

A small chuckle burst from me at the thought. I pictured Tanya unleashing her full, devastating forces of seduction on this man when he only wanted to travel.

"And what exactly are you?"

_He's definitely not human._

"I'm a Time Lord," he said.

"Well, that's not pretentious at all," I scoffed.

He grinned in response.

"And where is this _TARDIS_ of yours?"

He patted the blue box. "You're looking at her."

"Let me get this straight, you want me to travel through with you?"

He nodded.

"Through time _and_ space."

He nodded again.

"In _that_?"

He grinned madly.

"Don't you think it'll be a little bit _cozy_?"

He just grinned and pushed the door open. "Why don't you take a look?"

I followed his instructions, stepping through the open door.

The exterior of his blue box was highly deceptive.

_It's bigger on the inside. _

~ 0 ~


End file.
